Positioning mechanism



May 25 1926. I I B. A. LINDERMAN POSITIONING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 1925 3Sheets-Sheet 1 May 25 1926;

. 1,585,776 B. A. LINDERMAN POSITIONING MECHANISM Filed Jan 19, 1925 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 25, 1926.

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BERT A. LINDERMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGN 01% 1'0 MUSZiiEGON MACHINECOM- PANY, OF MUSKEGON, MEOH'IGAN, A CQREORATION OF MICHIGAN.

POSITIONING MECHANISM.

Application filed January 19, 1325. Serial No. 3,215.

lvl y present invention relates to positioning mechanism associated withthe feeding devices employed in wood working machinery, such, forexample, as machines for operating upon boards to provide a straightedge thereon, preparatory to uniting plurality of such boards by meansof a dovetail joint between the edges thereof.

The apparatus is of the same general character and has, broadly, thesame function as the apparatus of my prior Patents No. 1,316,015,granted September 16, 1919, and No. 1,519,783, granted December 16,1924-.

An important object of the invention is the provision of positioningmechanism for this or analogous purposes, which is of simplei'nechanical construction and operation, involving a minimun i amount ofmechanism and being thus relatively inexpensive and adapted forincorporation in mall machines, the construction cost of which should belrept as low as possible.

In practice, it is found that lumber, as ordinarily provided, is more orless irregular, the edge portions frequently having depressions causedbyknots, or flaws in the material, or by irregular sawing or cutting, andwhen the boards are to be used for exact work, such as the making ofvarious kinds of furniture, automobile bodies, caskets, etc., in whichpractically a continuous surface is ,requircd, it is necessary to have atrue and accurate edge on each board, in order that it may be joined toadjacent boards by a glue jointing or dove-tailing process. It isdesirable, however, that no more material be removed than is actuallynecessary, since lumber employed for such purposes is frequentlyexpensive and the mechanism of my invention is adapted to accuratelyposition the edge of the board with respect to cutting elements so thatjust enough inaterial and no more is removed to provide an even and trueedge, the controlling devices being, for this purpose, extremelysensitive and adapted to position the board with such exactness as toavoid wastage to the greatest possible extent without saci'iliceofaccuracy.

A further object of the invention is the provision of mechanism of thischaracter adapted to act upon the edge of a board fed into the machinewith the width of the board disposed vertically and with the edge to beoperated upon at the bottom. 7

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentit is better understood from the following description,

which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses apreferred embodiiinent thereof.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is an elcvat-ional view of a portion of a wood working machine equip led with a positioningiznechanisn'i, or selectrion, in which my invention is enji'b'odied;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, takenthrough the movable support or fence of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view, taken substantially upon thesection line in Fig. 2; and

Fig. t is ,a section taken substantially upon the section line 1 1: inFig. 2.

In said drawings, 1 have shown, for illustrative purposes only, apreferred form of my invention, in which the reference character 11indicates a feed chain a lumber joining machine, which is supported upona main frame 12, upon one end of which is mounted the mechanism of myinvention, which is known in the trade as a. selectrion since thefunction thereof is .to select the portion of the board surface whichdetermines the board position as it enters the feeding devices. Theselectrion. in the present instance, is adapted to be operated by aboard '13 as the same is pressed downwardly upon the top of a movablesup port or fence, which I have indicated, generally, by the referencecharacter 14;. Said fence comprises spaced side plates 15, connected bycross pieces 16 at the top and carrying the operating parts of .themechanism, which will now be described.

A plurality of toes, or detectors, are pivoted at 18 between the platesin and have rearwardly extending tail portions 19, carrying verticallydisposed rods 21, upon which are mounted wedge members 22, held indesired position between springs 23 on the lower ends of the rods andnuts 2% threaded onto the upper ends of said rods. The tension upon thesprings 23 may obviously be varied in accordance with the extent towhich the nuts are screwed down- \vardly and the parts are so balancedthat the toes 17 are normally held in their up position, protrudingthrough the spaces 25 between the cross pieces 16.

A pair of longitudinally disposed bars 26 are connected by means ofstuds 21' and are slotted, as indicated at 28, between said studs 27.Studs 29 extend between the plates 15 and through the slots 28 d areadapted to cooperate with said studs 27 to grip the wedge members 22under predetermined conditions, as will be presently described.

The fence, or support, 14 is preferably pivotally mounted at one or morepoints and is normally held level and in raised position by means of aparallel motion device, comprising levers 31, centrally pivoted at 32 tothe frame 12 of the machine, the upper ends of said levers beingconnected by means of a connecting rod 33 and the lower ends by means ofa similar rod 3% and a spring 35 being connected to one end of the rod2-33 and to the opposite end of the roe Bell cranks 36 are pivoted at 37to the plates 15, one arm thereof being rigid with the o0 lever 81 andthe other arm 39 being pivoted upon a pintle 27 passing through one ofthe studs 2? connecting the bars 26.

Openings 45 are provided in the upper part of the side plates 15 andretaining members 45 are pivoted at a? to said plate and arrangeableover openings 18 therein in which the pivoted pins 18 are disposed.

In operation, a board to be aligned with respect to the cutters of thelumber joining machine is placed upon the top of the fence 1 1, as shownin Fig. 2, with the edge thereof which is to be trued in contact withsaid fence. The toes 17 thereupon arrange thenr selves in contactwiththe board edge, it being apparent from Fig. 2 that when there is adepression in said edge, such as is indicated at 41, the toe beneathsaid depression will be raised above the others and the wedge 22associated therewith will be in correspond ingly lowered position.Continued pressure upon the board 18 serves to move the fence latdownwardly against the tension of the spring 35, which is stretched bythe action of the bell crank 36, the arm 38 of which is rigid with oneof the levers 31. This tends to turn said lever 31 upon its pivot fromthe vertical to the position indicated in Fig. 2. This downward movementof the fence also produces a horizontal movement of the bars 26 byreason of the turning of the bell crank 36 upon the fixed pivot 32, andthis separates the studs 27 and 29, thus permitting the wedges 22 todescend between said studs. Upon release of the pressure upon the board,the fence will tend to rise through the action of the spring 35 and thebars 26 will be returned toward tl c original position. it will bemanifest that the v-sedge member 22 which is furthest down will be firstgripped between the studs 2'? and 29, this being the wedge associatedwith the too 17 which is furthest up, so that the point of greatest(repression in the board ct deter mines the point at which the up motionof the fence is arrested and thus controls the board position inaccordance with its surl'arc so that when it is passed over the cutter,only so much thereof as is necessary to produce an even surface will beremoved by the c'" ters, which, it will be understood, are diposedbeneath the board as it is directed through the machine by the feedchains 11. In order to restore the parts to starting nosition after theboard has passed, the ic to may be pushed downwardly to separate thestuds 27 and 29 and thus release the wedge 22 which has been engaged. Itwill be obvious that with all of the toes 19 depressed to the fullextent, there will be no gripping of the wedge members and the parts maybe restored to original position.

It is thought that the invention and man of its attendant advantageswill be uud stood from the foregoing description, it will be apparentthat various changes 1: be made in the form, const uction and rangementof the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention, or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the formhereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. Positioning mechanism, comprisin fran'ie, a member pivotallysupported yieldably movable under pressure of the article to bepositioned, yielding abutmcnis carried by said men'ibcr and en gea'oleby said article, apart movable at n angle to the movement of said memberupon n'essurc being applied to the latter, and means adapted tocooperate with said part whrn the pressure is relieved to determine theextent of return movement of said member in accordance with the positionof said yicl ing abutments.

2. Positioning mechanium, comprising a frame, a member pivot-allysupported and yieldably movable in a vertical direction under pressureof the article to be positioned, yielding abutments carried by saidmember and engageable by said article, a part movable horizontally uponpressure being applied to the latter, and means adapted to cooperatewith said part when the pressure is relieved to determine the extent ofreturn movement of said member in accordance with the position of saidyielding abutments.

3. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a member pivotillysupported and yieldably n'iovable under pressure of the are ticle to bepositioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and ongagoable bysaid article, a part movable at an angle to the movement of said memberupon pressure being applied to the latter, and means adapted tocooperate with said part when the pressure is relieved. to determine theextent oi return movement of said member in accordance with the positionof the most extended oi said yielding tiblliilllQil'ilS.

Positioning mechanism, con'iprising a frame, a member having pivotalsupport and being movable under pressure of the article to bepositioned, yielding alnitments carried iy said member and engageable bysaid article, a part movable at an angle to the move ment of said memberupon pressure being applied to the latter, and means carried by saidn'iember and aonuted to cooperate with said part when the pressure isrelieved to determine the extent return movei'nent of said member inaccordance with the position of said yielding abutments.

5. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a member having pivotalsupport and being movable under pressure oi the article to bepositioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable bysaid article, a part movable at an angle to the movement oi said memberupon pressure being applied to the latter, a wedge associated with eachoi said abutinents, and gripping elements carried respectively by saidmen1- her and said relatively movable part for engaging the wedgeassociated with the most extended yielding abutment to limitthe returnmovement oi said member and thus determine the position of the article.

6. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a member having pivotalsupport and being movable under pressure of the article to bepositioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable bysaid article, a part movable at an angle to the movement of said memberupon pressure being applied to the latter, spring means for returningthe mechanism to starting position, and means adapted to cooperate withsaid part when the pressure is relieved to determine the extent ofreturn movement of said member in accordance with the position of saidyielding abutments.

'i'. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a. member having pivotalsupport and being movable under pressure of the article to bepositioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable bysaid article, a part movable at an angle to the movement of said memberupon pressure being applied to the latter, a parallel motion springdevice for returning the mechanism to starting position, and meansadapted to cooperate with said part when the pressure is relieved todetermine the extent of return movement of said member in accordancewith the position of said yielding abutments.

8. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a member having pivotalsupport and being movable under pressure of the article to bepositioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable bysaid artiole, a part movable at an angle to the movement of said memberupon pressure being applied to the latter, a parallel motion springdevice for returning the mechanism to starting position, said devicebeing pivoted to the frame and having an extension pivoted to saidmember and to said relatively movable part, and means adapted tocooperate withsaid part when the pressure is relieved to determine theextent of return movement of said member in accordance with the positionof said yielding abutments.

9. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a member having pivotalsupport and being movable under pressure of the article to bepositioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable bysaid article, a part movable at an angle to the move ment of said memberupon pressure being applied to the latter, a parallel motion springdevice for returning the mechanism to starting position, said devicebeing pivoted to the frame and having an extension pivoted to saidmember and to said relatively movable part, the retracting movement ofthe member moving said device and shifting said partagainst the tensionof the spring, and means adapted to cooperate with said part when thepressure is relieved to determine the extent of return movement ofsaidmember in accordance with the position of said yielding abutments.

10. Positioning mechanism, comprising a pivotally supported unit movableunder pressure of the article to be positioned and in cluding a partmovable at right angles to the direction of the pressure and operableupon return movement of the unit to deter mine the extent of saidmovement in accord ance with the form oi the applied surface of saidarticle.

11. Positioning mechanism, comprising, a frame, a member directlymovable under pressure of the article to be positioned, and

means carried by said member and controlled by said article for limitingthe return movement of said member.

12. Positioning mechanism, comprising, a frame, a member directlymovable under pressure of the article to be positioned, and meanscarried by said member and controlled by said article for limiting thereturn movement of said member, said means comprising a finger adaptedto engage the article, and

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means controlled by said finger and adapted to be interposed betweenrelatively movable parts of said member.

13. Positioning mechanism, comprising, a

5 frame, a member pivotally mounted in said frame at a plurality ofpoints and movable under pressure of an article to be positioned,

and a plurality of devices associated with said member and adapted toengage the article and to restrict the return movement of 10 said memberin accordance with the contour of the surface of the article.

BERT A. LINDERMAN.

